Contests and Competitions for Small Biz

Lots of great contests and competitions this fall – don’t miss the opportunity to win some nice business services, prizes, cash and even investors.
This list of contests, competitions and awards is brought to you by Small Business Trends and Smallbiztechnology.com.

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The Franchise Council ContestEnter by September 6, 2010
A nationwide contest for business owners interested in an initial launch of franchising his/her business. The winner will receive $87,000 in business services . The Franchise Council (TFC) in partnership with Franchise Brokers Association (FBA), an industry association, will manage the contest that runs from June 1 – September 6, 2010.
The contest winner will be announced October 20 at the FBA national meeting in Orlando. Online application and rules located at http://www.franchiseba.com/development.
For information about the contest and other general inquiries contact Randy Hove, FranNet – St. Louis, at 314.614.8940 or rhove@frannet.com.

Sugartone Sweet Business Blogging ContestEnter by September 9, 2010
BizSugar and Bloggertone are hosting a blogging contest to share and promote some of the finest small business news, information and tips online. To enter, submit an original blog post fitting the theme of “Making your business amazing.”
The blogger receiving the most votes from the BizSugar community will receive a $350 HP gift certificate. Second prize is a $250 HP gift certificate, awarded for the “most engaging comment” as selected by BizSugar judges.WIE PrizeEnter by September 10, 2010
The WIE Prize in conjunction with I/O Ventures is an early stage startup program that focuses heavily on investment and mentorship, and they are looking for the next female tech trailblazing entrepreneur. Win up to $25,000 investment in your product, for which I/O Ventures will receive 8 percent common stock in your company.Free PR Contest from Vantage CommunicationsEnter by September 17, 2010
Vantage Communications is offering a free PR contest providing 20 hours of free PR services to one winning technology company. Note: the contest is open to any size technology company, including SMBs. See website for rules and to enter.New Ideas ContestEnter by September 20, 2010
Winners will be announced at the Small Business Innovation Summit and Expo in Charleston on Nov. 3. The grand prize winner will receive $5,000 of seed money for his or her business idea, a scholarship to a FastTrac entrepreneurial training program, tickets to the Small Business Innovation Summit and Expo and a Dream Team of Mentors to help cultivate the idea.
Five first place prizes of $2,500 will be awarded in the categories of Bio-Science, Software/Information Technology, Engineering, Environmental Sustainability and Wild Card. Each winner will receive a scholarship to FastTrac and tickets to the Small Business Innovation Summit and Expo. There will be five $1,000 honorable mention prizes distributed as well as in each category.America’s Got Net Video ContestEnter by September 30, 2010
This contest is is open to U.S.-based individuals, small businesses and non-profit/charitable organizations that demonstrate the benefits of the open Internet.
Video entries will be judged by some of the Internet’s most influential celebrities and
winners will receive a prize package containing an Amazon Kindle DX, Google Nexus One Phone, Slingbox PRO-HD, Skype mobile phone plus one year of Skype Unlimited World Calling, and a Sony bloggie. Small business and non-profit winners will also win free advertising and promotion, the chance to be featured in an Open Internet Coalition ad campaign, and a VIP trip to D.C. to meet with key decision makers on the open Internet.PITCH: Women 2.0 Startup CompetitionEnter by October 1, 2010
Open to early-stage ventures around the world, from high growth business ventures in web 2.0 to mobile, from enterprise web/mobile to consumer clean/biotech. Applying companies must be in beta stage and have not received significant funding.
A handful of startups will be chosen to pitch live in San Francisco at the 4th Annual PITCH Night on November 4th, 2010. Previous years’ prizes included meetings with Michael Moritz (Sequoia Capital), Tim Draper (Draper Fisher Jurvetson) and Esther Dyson (investor in companies such as Flickr, del.icio.us, and 23andMe), and a host of startup-friendly services.Startup Nation Homebased 100Enter by October 1, 2010
The 2010 StartupNation Home-Based 100 will once again rank the best performing home-based businesses across America in ten distinct categories. To enter you must be home-based, must also have a website for your business, and some aspect of your business should fit at least one of the themes of the Top Ten categories.ACCO Brands Everyday Heroes ContestEnter by October 31, 2010
What is an Everyday Hero? It’s a person who knows how to use his/her office tools to make things run smoothly; a person to whom everyone turns to pull it all together in a pinch; an individual who quietly gets the job done — often without being recognized. Everyday Heroes can enter the contest now at accoheroes.com. ACCO Brands will award a grand prize of $1,000 redeemable at office product dealers to one winner in each of three categories — business, home/home office and school.Show Us Your Office Contest from RegusEnter by October 31, 2010
Contestants can enter a photo or video of their current, less-than-ideal workplace, and site viewers will be able to vote for the entry most deserving of a new office. The 10 entries with the most votes will proceed to the final round of judging. One lucky winner will receive a year of fully furnished, fully equipped office space at any of Regus’ more than 400 U.S. locations. Nine runner-ups will receive Virtual Office Plus packages from Regus, allowing them to work more productively on the go.The Business Card ProjectOpen entry deadline
MOO.com is giving away more than $250,000 worth of design services and MOO products to 500 small businesses. Each winner will receive a one-time business card redesign by a professional design team and 50 free Business Cards from MOO. Check out a great “before and after” on the site:The Cleantech Open Ideas CompetitionEnter by October 2010 (see site for entry details)
The Cleantech Open runs the world’s largest clean technology business competition and we’re looking for the best clean technology ideas from around the world. Just for telling us your idea, you could win a prize package of services worth $100,000 to help you start a business to grow your idea! Winners of each individual National Competition, get to represent your country as a Global IDEAS finalist at the annual Cleantech Open Awards Gala on November 16, 2010 in San Francisco.
There, your idea will be presented in a five-minute pitch in front of a crowd of 3,000 investors, entrepreneurs, sponsoring companies, corporations, members of academia, press, and others interested in hearing your ideas and getting involved.
The crowd will vote via text message for the “People’s Choice” and you could win $100,000 in marketing support, legal advising, conferencing services and more to help launch your business.Sign up to receive the newsletter to get updates. Business.com’s 10th Brithday iPad GiveawayEnter by November 1, 2010
Enter to win one of 10 Apple iPads and enjoy special discounts from Business.com partners including Vistaprint, Dell, TelecomRush, Intuit and others.Dream Big Small Business AwardEnter by January 7, 2011
The DREAM BIG Small Business of the Year Award, sponsored by Sam’s Club, is designed to honor U.S. job creators and recognize their significant contributions as drivers of economic growth. The 2011 application will become available starting Tuesday, September 21, 2010. View the eligibility and criteria to learn more and check out the Application Process FAQs for tips on filling out the application.
If you are putting on a small business contest, award or competition, and want to get the word out to the community, please submit it through our Small Business Event Form (We do not charge a fee to be included in this listing — it is completely free to list your award or contest.)
To find other small business awards, contests, competitions and grants, visit our Small Business Events Calendar. Please note: The descriptions provided here are for convenience only and are NOT the official rules. ALWAYS read official rules carefully at the site holding the competition, contest or award.Laura Leites, Managing Editor, Smallbiztechnology.com
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Laura plans and manages Smallbiztechnology's live and virtual events, including the five-city Small Business Technology Tour, now in its third year. She also produces events for clients through her event planning company, L2 Event Production. Her popular roundups of events and competitions for small businesses is published weekly on Smallbiztechnology.com and Small Business Trends.